Yes, I know I haven't posted in a week..been sick and otherwise involved with the drama of real life...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the U.S.M.C.
234 years of service,honor and tradition, may the country last long enough to provide for another 234 years...

The media just can't seem to figure out Maj. Hasan's motives in engaging in a shooting spree yelling "Allah Akbar" as he was doing it...they try to say it was "transferred PTSD"?!? PUL--EEESE! Or he was a "lonely man" even worse!
If the Journojismers would get their heads out of their PC asses, the reason is obvious. Maj Hasan is an Islamic extremest, and THAT is the reason he engaged in the actions he did. He said it himself:"we love death more than you love life". Believe him and know that there are thousands like him preparing themselves to engage in terrorism type acts as we sit here, the question is not if ,but WHEN they will go off.

Can't sit up much longer, but I'll be back soon, with a good rant or two, I hope.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 09:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 189 words, total size 1 kb.

For those of you who still insist that Single Payer or UHC as it's better known, is the way to go with our health care system, please go here and learn what you are truly wishing to subject your fellow Citizens to.

All you one-payer system advocates, just what is your response to stories like Ms. Holmes ? Canada spends over 10% on average of it's GDP on it's health care system(s), yet they do not have the means to pay for adequate service for it's citizens. This same result has occurred in EVERY nation where a single payer system has been tried --- long wait times for diagnosis and/or treatment, or no treatment options being available at all.

I do have a dog in this hunt. I am a three year post op Cardiac patient. I have been diagnosed with Coronary Heart Disease and chronic Congestive Heart Failure complicated by stage one COPD and Diabetes.
I have had a total of two multiple stent and two open heart procedures (a total of four stents, nine bypasses, and one valve repair)done within the last four years. I depend on a C-pak unit to help me breath through the night and insulin to regulate my blood sugars.

Am I in debt from these conditions/treatments?

Hell YES!

BUT
I am alive to worry about these debts. Had I still been residing in my native Netherlands, I most likely wouldn't have survived the wait to see a Cardiologist, much less the wait for a Surgeon.

Single payer works great for standard preventative care, but when the rubber hits the road and you get truly ill, you'd better hope that you're not under such a system, if you are, you either come to the U.S. or you D. I. E. (there I spelled it for you knuckleheads, I can't get any clearer than that.)

We do need reform in our medical delivery system, but government is a great deal a part of the problem and has very little to do with the solution. The ONLY area where government may be of use is if it will enact some true reform in the judicial system and make it so that a case of simple human error doesn't become a way for someone to become, in effect, a lottery grand prize winner.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 03:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 392 words, total size 3 kb.

I just found out that one of the finest people I have ever met is is in the hospital in Savannah, with what sounds like double Pneumonia.

Been there, done that, and I wouldn't wish it on Obambi.

Please, when you say your prayers tonight, join me in adding one for Joe Goodman aka Da Catfish, and his wife Nancy.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 03:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

You just can't make this stuff up...let the cow piss jokes commence!

H/T to BC at the Rott.

UPDATE: Seems the Uluating Adherants of Allah are not to be outdone by any mere Hindus....but their ungulate waste product of choice is Camel instead ofCow...Maybe we better get on the stick....Bison Piss, perhaps?

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 08:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, I made it back home today, never thought I'd be in the hospital for an entire week, but so it goes...Three days in ICU;Two MRI's and a CAT scan later, the Docs say: we found a "baby" aneurysm in the stem portion of my brain; that my B/P was wildly uncontrolled (like THAT was any news to me!), and my blood sugar ratios weren't conducive to continued good health (strangely, the levels were higher in ICU than they usually run at home); Like I need to pay someone a grand a day to tell me what I already know and still don't really correct the situation.

At least I'm no longer in total vertigo mode, just in medium dizzy mode. I asked my primary physician about that and he told me that, in his opinion, even though the MRI's didn't catch it, that I had probably had a very small stroke, and that the only "cure" for it would be time and acclimating to the changed neural state. It's difficult to read, write, or watch TV and driving and certainly riding are out of the question.

I have a new B/P and Glucose control regimens that I intend to follow to the nth degree. (and hopefully won't "zombify me this time)

Upshot of the whole ordeal, put myself in hock for another $15 K to the hospital and only marginally feeling better than when I went in. That's the way the ball bounces sometimes. At least I met some GREAT people in the medical/nursing staff that put up with me for a week. The hospital will just have to bear with me paying $50. a month until such time as I either have the debt paid off or I finally do kick the traces over for the last time.

Thank all of you for your expressions of concern and all your prayers for me, they really meant a lot to both Beth and I.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:03 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 331 words, total size 2 kb.

I just found out that my Sister in law Dianne Meyer died this morning. I haven't gotten all the details yet, but I request that you all pray for my brother Pieter in this time of grief.
Dianne was his rock, and without her, I don't know how he will keep from drifting down a path of self-destruction.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 04:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 60 words, total size 1 kb.

Finally, someone has finally made a sensible, common sense, non-religious argument against abortion. I'm not surprised it was Rachel Lucas, she has always been one of the most common sense people I've ever had the pleasure to read.

I have always been of the "abortion is murder" school, but have found that trying to impose MY views on others actions is just as repugnant to me, as it goes against my other, equally strongly held view, that we must be allowed to make most decisions for ourselves and not have them imposed by without.

Rachel has laid down the gauntlet, it behooves us all to take up the challenge and work with the opposition to achieve what we both say we want, fewer abortions. She lays out the answer to a difficult situation as clearly as it can be...

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 06:55 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.

1 So you're back! I though we'd converted you to the ways of evil and you were on an anti-whaling ship off the coast of New Zealand by this point.

Posted by: Karlo at April 08, 2008 11:13 AM (o6Nj+)

2 You'll never get that lucky Karlo Mmmm Whale, it's whats for dinner!

Posted by: Delftsman3 at April 08, 2008 04:30 PM (hQNov)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Yeah, we REALLY want "universal, single payer healthcare" ala the NHS in Britain or Canada...that way WE can look forward to such a debate as is occurring in Jolly ol England.

"Don't treat the old and unhealthy, say doctors" reads the headline....DOCTORS mind you, not just faceless bureaucrats, but those that are charged by their medical oaths to "first, do no harm". If those that are the most likely to be of succor to those in ill health publicly espouse such an argument, just how likely is it that those in the myriad layers of governmental agencies will be more sympathetic?

Remember that "those that pay the piper;controll the tune". We here in the U.S. take our health care all too much for granted.
It's true that lack of insurance can be troublesome, BUT emergency health care is never witheld from anyone, regardless of their ability to pay, and in most cases of serious ailment, treatment is given first and questions about payment come after the fact.

Under the NHS system, even those that are otherwise healthy and in the prime category for best results from treatment are, in many cases, put off for treatment untill the condition has become much more difficult (and expensive) to treat or even becomes inevitably fatal.

Even the ability to be CAPABLE of treating some illnesses is curtailed without the profit motive spurring R & D in techniques and investment in equipment.

Take an MRI machine for example. Here in Indianapolis, the largest hospital in the city, Methodist, possesses FOUR such machines....and every other hospital of any size whatsoever has at least one....there exist only three such machines in the entire Eastern half of Canada, leading to waits of up to 18 months just to recieve a diognostic treatment.
Bear in mind that most of the ailments that a MRI is most usefull in diagnosing are extremely time sensative if effective treatment is to be afforded to the patient. While we may decry the lack of insurance to thousands of people here in the U.S., the fact is that many of those people conciously choose to forego coverage, choosing to use the money for other needs/wishes instead. If you're in your twenties and in good health, with a finite amount of income, you may just believe it is a wise choce to buy a new car instead of investing in a healthcare plan,and the nanny-stateists are fostering that choice in telling that twentysomething that government should be responsible for your health care, not you.

Folks, you have to remember that Freedom is NEVER free, and with that freedom comes the RESPONSIBILITY to provide for your own needs and not look to the government to be your be all and end all provider.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 08:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 464 words, total size 3 kb.

I took these pics of my baby at dusk so that if I should ever be killed by a driver of a car who says "I never saw him in the dark"; you'll know he/she's a G-TDAMMED LIAR!

If I can find ever find my camera again, I'll try to get some good daylight pics up soon.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 01:19 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 63 words, total size 1 kb.

I don't know how long this connection will hold up, but I really wanted to try and get SOMETHING up here....it looks so darned bleak and barren w/o any posts up, and my co-authors are all engaged in some time consuming activities that can't be put off, so they couldn't post anything lately.

I'm still staying at my ex's place, it's just more conducive to faster healing than home is at the moment, and speaking of healing, I'm rather pleased with my progress so far. I am up to walking almost half a mile day now (albeit in stages, not continious), and I am tapering off of the oxycodein tabs...and best (and hardest) of all, it's been 55 days nicotine free. I dread the confrontation that will occur when I go home and institute a "no smoking in the house or car" policy. I find it wrong to impose restrictions on anothers right to engage in a legal activity and it makes me feel like a real hypocrit to impose such sanctions, but having said that, I KNOW two things; 1), I will be unable to continue my abstinence if I am exposed to such a great extant of smoke as presently exists, and 2), if I resume smoking, I will be throwing away this one last chance that all of the dedicated medical professionals have given me. As it is, they estimate that I've been given another 5 good years, and I don't want to waste any of them, or shorten that estimate by my own stupidity. I just hope that I can get the others in the household to make what I know is a difficult (and somewhat selfish on my part) sacrifice towards that end. Only time will tell. I won't say I'll never smoke again; I am a nicotine addict. All I can say is "I won't smoke today". I can only pray that it will get easier with time.

On the family front, we have received some difficult news this week; it seems that my ex wife will require surgury to repair tears of the rotater cuffs of both shoulders, and she's scheduled to have the right shoulder surgury done Nov. 28.; and we learned just yesterday that my ex-mother in law will need cardiac surgury to repair a leaking aortic valve....don't know when she will go in to have it done, but it will have to be soon, by all accounts. At her age (no, I WON'T tell it G'ma ) such surgury is pretty problematic, I hope know that I can count on all of you to give us your continued support; you can not conceive of how much it has meant to me and all of my family.

On a much brighter note, LC Beth*A is making the move from San Diego to Indianapolis at the beginning of November, so we can enjoy the pleasure of her company physically, as well as through E-Mail and Tx. (I'm sorry if I'm letting the cat out of the bag, Beth, but I just can't keep a secret like this..) Assuming that the Medicos give me clearence to resume driving and flying( and most likely even if they don't!) at my first post op check-up, I'm going to fly to San Diego and assist her in driving her worldly goods back to her new home here in Indiana. Hopefully, she'll find the time to start putting some of her patented "good horse-sense posts" up here on a semi-regular basis too.

Time to go for my theraputic walk/exercises, talk to you all soon.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 02:10 PM | Comments (37) | Add Comment
Post contains 602 words, total size 3 kb.

No, I am not a doctor. Nor am I a nurse. I've never taken even so much as a CPR or first aid course outside the cursory one they teach in high school driver's ed so you can save your passengers after you've screwed up behind the wheel.

Even so, I know that after major surgery you do not send someone home who has not passed a decent bowel movement, who blew out his own catheter in the middle of the night, who cannot even eat because of the nausea and what vomiting does to his split sternum, who sill has bedsores, and who be left alone for hours at a time because he cannot get out of a chair unassisted. It is dangerous, it is irresponsible, and it is bad medicine.

Yet today when I went to take Delfts a bowl of fruit from the cafeteria breakfast bar he told me he thought that they were considering exactly that. Even though he badly wants to be out of this hospital, even he thinks that Monday is entirely soon enough.

I do not know who is pushing this release, but I strongly suspect the insurance company is putting the pressure on the hospital and the surgeon. Yes, it is true that under perfect conditions a patient having the same surgery could reasonably expect to have been home long before today. This, however, was far from a perfect case. Five days of atrial fibrillation did number on him, and the fact that he was in very poor condition prior to the surgery only contributed to the situation we have now. A former health care worker with whom I am friends was astounded that they sent him home from the Congestive Heart Failure unit over the weekend prior to his surgery based on his overall condition and the problems he was having.

And now they want to send him home again.

This is not a good thing. It is, in fact, a very bad idea. I desperately hope that this is more the product of a combination of pain meds affecting Delft's mind, and not a real option that they are considering for him.

In the meantime, he truly enjoys the calls. He has missed you all so very much. Thank you for calling him. I fixed the phone number in the previous post, so it is correct now.

Update: Well, I am much relieved after talking to Delft's nurse. Relieved, but not as relieved as I'd like to be.

It seems that after the successful cardioversion on Tuesday, he was able to keep a sinus rhythm only until Wednesday night. He's been in and out of A-fib and back on the meds for it since then. He has been light-headed and dizzy, so much so that they had to cut his 11am walk back from 150 feet to 75 feet.

Based on all of his indicators, there is no possibility of his being released either today or tomorrow for love or money. He got his conversation with his nurse all mixed up in his drug-addled mind and completely misunderheard what was being explained to him. It is a Very Good Thing™ that he was wrong. He has no business being home alone. Hell, he has no business being at home even with other people as long as his cardiac rhythm isn't regulated.

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 10:47 AM | Comments (164) | Add Comment
Post contains 569 words, total size 3 kb.

Delfts is in room 2427 now, a regular room with a phone and everything.

St Vincent Hospital
Attn Pt. Lambertus Meyer
2001 West 86th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46260

Phone: 317-338-0598 or 1-866-338-2345 and ask for extension 80598.

I know he'd love to hear from you.

Update: Sorry about the phone number. It's corrected now. This number will work.

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 11:56 AM | Comments (50) | Add Comment
Post contains 60 words, total size 1 kb.

I called on my first break of the day to check on Delfts and spoke to his current nurse for his status and how his night was.

Apparently he rested well, is in relatively good spirits, and is in his chair. He enjoyed the fruit, so I will be picking up more in the cafeteria this afternoon to drop off for him. Lychee fruit? I may actually have a can at home.

The nurse yesterday did as I asked (demanded) and placed a waffle mattress on his bed to lessen the chance of additional or worsening bedsores. The nurse today had already bathed his back, examined the existing sores, and had changed the way that they were being treated. No more tape laid over it. She was using something else that required a little more time to administer but would promote the healing process, not just stop the skin from splitting further.

Oh, you didn't know about the bedsores? Neither did I until yesterday, and I was Not Pleased™ at finding out about them. I discussed them with my submissive during the course of the day, and he made several suggestions based on his experiences both as a CNA and as a clinical engineering technician who has worked on the various beds used in such situations. Based on that information and what I had seen on Delfts' back, I made a decision and made a demand. It was good to see it was taken seriously.

Here's the scoop on his A-fib: The surgeon is not happy with his lack of progress on the meds they have tired for converting his rhythm back to some semblence of a sinus rhythm. As such, they are going to do a "Cardioversion" on him at about noon or whenever the surgeon is finished in surgery and free to do it. It will be done in his room under anesthesia. It won't take long. Hopefully it will be successful. If it is successful, he could be transfered into the step-down unit tomorrow, maybe earlier.

I am hopeful. If he is well enough to be moved to a real room with a phone and visitors, I am certain that it will do much to promote an improved mental outlook, something that has the potential of being of great benefit to him as he heals.

The nurse has been instructed to call me with an update when the cardioversion has been completed. I will post the results. Now it is time to go read what I can find on the proceedure...

Mamamontezz

Update: Okay, I don't feel so bad about this. I can deal with this.

Update: The Cardioversion is over.
He's waking up from the anesthesia.
His heart is in a normal sinus rhythm.
They've taken him off of one of the meds they were using
to regulate the A-fib.
They're watching him to see if it holds.
The nurse is hopeful.
I may have a room and phone number
for you before evening.
Yes, I am an optimist.

Now the battle will be between us, the insurance people, the discharge planners/case managers and the Utilization Review people. They will look at the total stay time and want him out. It will not matter to them that he has not truly had the time he needs to recover because of the complication of A-fib. The normal stay for open-heart is about a week and he's had that, damn the patient, keep those costs down.

My loins are girded. I hope they don't chafe.

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 09:18 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 599 words, total size 3 kb.

It's just after 8am and no news is good news. Delfts is still in the CVTR, but I fully anticipate they will move him today.

I hope the nurses let him know about the fruit I took up for him yesterday and that he was able to enjoy some of it. I will make sure he's aware of it if I am able to get up there this morning.

As for the rest of you, enjoy your holiday and grill up a brat for me. Updates as they occur. You know the drill.

Mamamontezz

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 07:14 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.

After days of not being able to get in to see Delfts, I took that walk again and got there during one of their restrictive little visiting times. My co-workers covered the phones and would not take "no" for an answer and I thank them profusely.

He looks a lot better than I expected. I don't know exactly what I did expect, but with all that I had been told by the nurses, it wasn't good. His color looks better than it has, his eyes looked clear, and he was feeling well enough to express his righteous indignation, both at me for not being around and at the nursing staff for some incident last night. I've asked one of the administrative people to go talk to him and find out what happened, and she agreed to try to do so today, barring any other issues that might take her attention.

As for his anger at my absence, I'm going to assume that either my messages to him have not been passed along like I asked, or he was drugged enough to not remember them. It doesn't matter, not really. At least he's around to be pissed.

His current nurse is apparently his favorite, and she was pretty encouraging about his being moved to the CVPV unit. It could happen as early as this afternoon if his indicators stay good. They just want to do one more set of readings at noon before they commit to the move. When they do, I will post the room number and phone for all of you.

I know he'll be happy to have a few things of his own around him too. He has a bag packed and sitting on his computer chair with two of his pigs and the little goat that Beth sent him. It will be nice to be able to put them in the truck and bring them up and know he will get them and be able to enjoy them.

Currently his favorite things are not his pigs or his goat or his books or his fruit-cup (long story). They are his daughter Erin and his new and very special friend Beth. They have attended to him, humored him, bucked him up when he needed bucking up, cajoled him into cooperating (if I know him), and been gracious in their kindness. He is a lucky man for having them.

*heavy sigh*

Anyway... As soon as I know more I'll let you know.

Mamamontezz

Update: One of my wonderful co-workers stopped at the grocer on her break and brought back a quart of fresh pineapple chunks for Delfts to help satisfy this fruit fixation he is having. Fruit he can have. Red meat is history, but fruit is do-able. So much so that on the way to take the pineapple to his unit, I stopped off at the cafeteria and picked up most of a pint of fresh strawberries too.

Of course, when I got up there he was sound asleep, upright in the chair, his head bent over like his neck was broken. All I could think was "Why the hell didn't someone wake him enough to get him into his bed before he got that far under?"

Anyway, his fruit is upstair in the unit fridge with his name on it, and the nurse assured me she'd make sure he got some if he asked.

I also asked about this move to the other unit that she had discussed with us in the morning. Weeeellll, as is the case of most things around here, nothing is set in stone except the fact that nothing is set in stone. The highest probability is that he will spend one more night in CVTR before going to the CVPV unit. She does want to do another set of indicators and call them in to the surgical assistant so that a decision can be made soon, but nothing has been decided yet.

Soon... soon...

Mamamontezz

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 09:56 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 665 words, total size 3 kb.

Just got in to work and called the floor. Delfts is still in CVTR, the recovery area where he has been since his surgery on Tuesday. The nurse du jour said at 7:30 that he was still in A-fib and would not be leaving the unit anytime this weekend.

I'll keep an eye on the unit and put up any changes as I hear them... Personally, I hope it's a quiet weekend and that there's nothing to post. Healing is the best thing for him. Maybe the next couple of days will make the difference.

Mamamontezz

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 07:27 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.

Because of issues with visiting hours and a low fever that I have been fighting intermittantly all week, I have still not been able to see Delfts. Resting all day yesterday on my day off and working on getting better seemed to work at least temporarily. I may not be "Medically Trained" and involved in patient care, but I do know enough to reduce the risk of his picking up an infection while he recovers, especially after the report I read last week.

But I did feel a little better, so I decided to put the decision in the hands of the nurses on his unit. I made arrangements for an extended break to allow me the time needed to walk the .25+ mile to his room, then called the nurse to get clearance based on the fevers.

That was when I found out about last night.

Atrial Fibrilation. On a drip to restore sinus rhythm since last night, and as of 9:30 it had not dropped back into sinus. But if you ask the nurse, all she'll say is "He's doing okay."

I'm not happy. I can't talk to him, I can't see him, I can't make it better...

Hopefully I'll know more later. In the meantime, he has no business being in a step-down unit, so hopefully they'll keep him right where he is.

So at this point I'm reading everything I can find on AF and it's implications at this point in his recovery so that I can prepare for whatever is in store for him, good or bad.

Update:

I spoke to the nurse over my lunch and got a little bit more information.

Delfts is awake, aware, and at the moment sitting up in a chair. He is still in A-Fib but the rhythm is steady and acceptably slow at this point. They are doing what essentially a Medical Cardioversion to try to restore the sinus rhythm. Although he has still not achieved it, he is stable.

It's not as bad as it sounded this morning, but it's still worrisome. Based on what I read this morning, Delfts could have been dealing with A-Fib for years and the A-Fib caused all of this instead of the reverse. Regardless of the chicken/egg possibilities of this, there are several treatment options open for consideration. I'll be interested in hearing the concensus that his cardiologist and cv surgeon come to.

Update 2: Just because he is in Cardiac Recovery does not mean he cannot receive cards. The only restriction is that he cannot have anything "Alive" in his room because of the increased risk of developing infection. Cards are fine and are something I think he would appreciate. Especially the ones with nekedness and boobage. He's quite fond of the boobage. Stick some boobage on a Rottie just for fun and send that. Just make sure the boobage is on XX members of humanity. He is a bit picky that way.

Send your cards and letters to:

St Vincent Hospital
Attn: Patient Lambertus Meyer
2001 West 86th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46260

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 09:22 AM | Comments (265) | Add Comment
Post contains 517 words, total size 3 kb.

I spoke to the nurse on the Cardiac Recovery unit this morning on the way to work. It appears he had a good night last night and was removed from the respirator to breathe on his own. She stated he was sitting on the edge of the bed having a sip of something at the moment, and was in pretty good spirits.

She also said he stands a pretty good chance of being taken out of the recovery area and put in a regular room on the CVPV unit. When that happens, I will have a phone number where he can receive calls which I will post on here.

Just bear in mind he's pretty weak. It will be a few days before he is fully awake and aware after the anesthesia. It takes a little longer when they effectively kill you on the table like they do in open-heart.

I'm not so sure about going up to spend much time with him. I'm not sure if it is a physical let-down from the stress, the rampage of perimenopausal hormones, or if I am fighting some sort of infection. Given the precautions they took before and after his surgery and the potential danger of infection, I would rather he be upset with me for not visiting Like I Should™ than wind up sick with whatever I may pass to him.

Updates as I have them.
______________________________________

(12:30) I went up to see the family on my miniscule lunch but none of them was there. I suppose they were all out getting a bite to eat. So I called the nurses' desk from the waiting room and got a small update.

He has been taken off the IV meds and seems to be doing quite well. They will be doing another test of his outflow before deciding whether or not to move him to a room on the CVPV floor.

I missed the morning visiting hour, will be working busily at my desk during the next one, and at home fixing dinner for everyone there during the later one. And no, there is no flexibility with visiting. It matters not that I work here and have for over 11 years and know how to behave in an intensive care unit. Be there on time or miss your opportunity.

But I digress.

Delft's is better. That is what is important.

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 08:02 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 402 words, total size 2 kb.

This is Erin, Bert's daughter. I'm not sure if Lila has posted anything on here, as the hospital catagorizes Dad's lovely website as "pornography", but in case she hasn't, here are the details. Dad is out of surgery. He is doing well -- they re-grafted one of his previous bypass efforts, and inserted a ring around his mitral valve to restore function. We haven't seen him yet, but we're very optimistic as they did not have to do a blood transfusion and everything seems to be going well and according to schedule. Dad's family is here and we're having quite a nice time catching up and laughing at Dad's childhood antics. Thank you all for support of my Daddy. I appreciate it, and I know that he does too, more than he can (and will) say. If you have any questions, please email me at erinm26@hotmail.com (please put dad's name in the subject line so I don't delete it as spam) and I'll try to respond as soon as possible. Again, thank you for caring.

Posted by: Erin at 04:03 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 181 words, total size 1 kb.

We got here at 5:55am.
They admitted him immediately.

Beth arrived from her hotel and joined us in Delft's holding room. Her eyes are striking, and she has a very genuine kindness about her.

The tech completely denuded his body (beard and scalp excluded). He looks pretty naked that way. Don't say anything but I kinda like it....

A more emergant case pushed his back to 9:30am.

At 9:10 he was taken to prep.

At 9:30 he was taken to surgery.

At 12:40 I got a call from Sister to tell me that they just got him open and on bypass. Because this is his second open-heart, opening the chest is much more difficult and involved and took a considerable amount of time. They don't expect him to be out of surgery for at least 3 more hours, potentially much longer.

I will update this as I can.

Posted by: Mamamontezz at 11:53 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 154 words, total size 1 kb.